Norks seed online games with malware in fiendish DDoS plot

South Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA) is warning users not to download unofficial online games as they may contain malware designed by the North to compromise machines which can then be used to launch DDoS attacks on the country.

The malware in question collects the location data and IP address and sends them to overseas servers, according to local Arirangnews site.

The infected machines can then be used to DDoS targets in the south.

It remains unclear exactly why police suspect NORKS this time around, although the hermit nation has done something similar in the past.

Last June the NPA discovered a plot in which a South Korean businessman purchased online gaming software at a knock down price from alleged Pyongyang agents.

These games were subsequently used to infect users whose PCs were then put to work DDoS-ing the web site of Incheon airport.

Tensions on the peninsula have been mounting in recent months, with claims by Seoul that Pyongyang has an army of 3,000 highly trained operatives bent on wreaking cyber destruction on the south.

Just last week, lawmaker Chung Hee-soo told parliament that attacks since 2009 had caused the country financial damage in excess of £500 million.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep information security professionals in the region busy, reports have emerged of a new Android banking Trojan aimed at Korean users.

Dubbed Android/Trojan.Bank.Wroba, the malware disguises itself as the Google Play Store app, stealing log-ins and other information when users access their online banking accounts, according to The Hacker News.